19 Jun Newly expanded Toronto Health and Social Services Directory helps local residents more easily find care close to home

Posted at 10:05h in News, North Toronto Primary Care Network by

Toronto, ON (June 19, 2023) – Eight Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto have come together to expand the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory (torontoservicedirectory.ca), a website that helps people more easily find health, social and community services in Toronto, including the former municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York.

The directory includes more than 8,000 health, social and community services listings in Toronto. The listings are drawn from three existing service directories in Ontario: 211 Ontario, ConnexOntario and thehealthline.ca.

By combining the Toronto-based and Toronto-serving listings from these directories in one place, the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory makes it easier for people to find the services they need. This helps ensure local residents are better able to identify and access health, social and community services that are close to where they live or where they would like to get care.

Features of the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory include:

  • Ability to search by location combined with topic or keyword
  • Easy-to-find service topics, including Older Adults, Caregivers, Mental Health, Health Care, 2SLGBTQI+, Newcomers, Income Support, Housing and more
  • Ability to search for services offered in specific languages
  • Detailed service listings that include eligibility, address, hours, accessibility and contact information

In addition, the participating Ontario Health Teams are working with the Toronto Child and Family Network to ensure a comprehensive list of local services for children and families are included in the directory. These listings will be added to the directory in the coming months.

Complementary to existing directories

The Toronto Health and Social Services Directory is not meant to replace existing service directories, including Health811, 211 Ontario, ConnexOntario and thehealthline.ca.

Instead, it is meant to be a complementary navigation resource for patients/clients, caregivers and community members in Toronto. Individuals are welcome to use the directory or other navigation tool they feel is best for them.

In addition, the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory does not provide emergency services. Individuals who need emergency care should call 9-1-1 or go to their nearest hospital emergency department.

Developed with input from local residents

The Toronto Health and Social Services Directory was developed with input from patient/client, caregiver and community advisors from across Toronto. They provided feedback during the development of the directory, including on its search functions and design.

This helps ensure the directory serves patients/clients, caregivers and community members as effectively as possible. The directory also helps health, social and community services providers, including family doctors, more easily find other services that their patients/clients may benefit from.

Improving navigation at local level

The Toronto Health and Social Services Directory is an expansion of the East Toronto Service Directory (services.ethp.ca), which was launched by East Toronto Health Partners, the Ontario Health Team serving East Toronto, in March 2022.

The expanded directory is part of all Ontario Health Teams’ mandate to improve local navigation to care services. It is supported by the City of Toronto and the Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto, which are funded by the Government of Ontario.

Quotes

“For many community members, navigating the health, social and community services system can be a complex and challenging task. For this reason, we’ve taken efforts to make the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory as easy to use as possible for local residents. We’ve also worked with partner organizations to help ensure the information they are sharing in their listings is as transparent, trustworthy and timely as possible – these are a few of the necessary ingredients for client-centred and trauma-informed services.”

– Jasper Rottiers, Community Advisor in Toronto who contributed feedback during the development of the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory

“Family physicians spend a lot of time looking up services to support patients. Being able to access accurate, up-to-date service listings in Toronto in one place helps improve our overall standard of care by allowing physicians to focus more time directly on our patients.”

– Dr. Leon Bhatia, Family Physician in Toronto

“As Ontario Health Teams, we are committed to supporting our community members in finding the health, social and community services they need, close to home. This helps ensure local residents are able to find the services they need at the right place at the right time. We look forward to continuing our work with partners, including Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto and their member organizations, to maintain and update the directory as needed so it serves local residents as effectively as possible.”

– Margery Konan, Manager of Integrated Care at East Toronto Health Partners who co-led the development of the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory in collaboration with the eight partner Ontario Health Teams

About the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory

The Toronto Health and Social Services Directory (torontoservicedirectory.ca) is a website that helps people more easily find health, social and community services in Toronto, including the former municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York. If you live and/or get care in these areas, the directory is a guide to finding care close to home. However, the directory does not provide emergency services. If you need emergency care, please call 9-1-1 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department. The directory is a partnership between eight Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto. It is supported by the City of Toronto and the Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto, which are funded by the Government of Ontario.

About Ontario Health Teams

Ontario Health Teams are a model of care that the Government of Ontario introduced in 2019. They are a new way to organize and deliver services in local communities to provide patients with better connected care. Under Ontario Health Teams, the healthcare providers who care for patients/clients (including hospitals, doctors and home and community care providers) work together as one coordinated team – no matter where they provide care. Learn more about Ontario Health Teams.

Eight Ontario Health Teams serving Toronto are partners in the Toronto Health and Social Services Directory:

Representatives from each of these Ontario Health Teams, including providers, administrative staff and patient/client, caregiver and community advisors, worked together to develop the directory and play a role in maintaining it.

Media contact

Lucy Lau
Manager, Corporate Communications and Community Engagement
Michael Garron Hospital and East Toronto Health Partners
lucy.lau@tehn.ca